Hey Nonny, Ho Nonny, The Plot Thickens
by Manchester
Summary: I have absolutely no idea any more than you do as to where this story is going, but isn't it a fun ride? No. 4 in the series "The Descendants in Sunnydale".
1. Chapter 1

"She's your _what?!_ " disbelievingly burst from Amy Madison.

Xander Harris repeated with evident pride in his voice, "My daughter," nodding at where Mal seated with Evie, Jay, and Dawn on the Revello Drive house's other living room couch smiled in turn at her father.

Switching her bewildered gaze back and forth several times between those two, Amy was clearly at a loss all due to the obvious fact that someone she'd gone to Sunnydale High with was much too young to have a teenage purple-haired daughter.

It was true that Amy had been promised last night a complete explanation of what'd happened over the past year and a half since she'd magically turned herself into a rat, but even for the Hellmouth, this had come _way_ out of left field for the next morning when everybody was now crammed into Buffy's living room.

Noticing this, Xander opened his mouth to yet again tell the whole story of the Descendants or to be more precise a particular one of these four young people visiting from another dimension, only for Dawn to interrupt him.

Bouncing up onto her feet, that younger Summers sister announced, "Oh, no, you don't, Xan! If we're gonna have to hear it again, let's have some fun and act it all out! Jay, you be Xander, Evie, you're Mal's mom, Mal, you narrate the high points, and I'll join in when necessary!"

For the next fifteen minutes, Xander and the rest of the living room audience comprising of Giles, Buffy, Willow, and Tara got to watch the younger kids gleefully seize the chance to overdramatically parody his adventures in the Disney Dimension.

It just barely stayed within the boundaries of good taste, according to Xander's own opinion. For example, he didn't really remember either of them being quite _that_ drunk when Maleficent in her glamour manifestation put the moves on him back then which resulted in their daughter nearly seventeen years later delivering continuous zingers about Jay and Evie trying and failing to plant a seriously sozzled kiss onto each other's lips.

Buffy sharing the couch with Xander, on the other hand, was cheerfully heckling every second of it. Even Wils and Tara were giggling in unison. Giles, damn him, was also sardonically observing over his glasses the entire idiotic performance.

When they finished with a rousing "Descendants forever!", these same amateur thespians expectantly regarded their target, who responded with a calm, mature adult response of thoroughly sticking out his tongue at them all.

Collapsing with laughter onto their couch, Dawn, Jay, Evie, and Mal then simultaneously glanced over at where an open-mouthed Amy had been watching them all while absently giving constant head-scratches to the blissful dog-monster seated upon his haunches next to her armchair.

Eventually, Amy managed, "Uh…didn't you say there were four of you from that magical island of yours? Where's this Carlos guy?"

Every other biped in the room instantly pointed right at the hellhound.

Snatching her hand away, Amy gaped at where the fanged beast with the glowing red eyes now turned his massive canine skull towards herself to next produce a pitiful whine from deep within a burly throat. Carlos wanted those wonderful fingers back at work, getting rid of all the itches he couldn't reach even with a back paw the size of a dinner plate. Please?

Cautiously resuming her scratches which got her an appreciative groan from Carlos, Amy shook her head with sudden resignation.

She announced to the rest of the room, "Okay, there've obviously been a lot of big changes here, but at least you're all still as completely insane as I remember you from high school!"

Judging from the satisfied smirks now borne by the entire Scooby Gang, they fully agreed with Amy Madison about this.

* * *

A couple of blocks away and about twenty feet underground, Harmony Kendall paused in painting her toenails.

Looking up from the beach chair wedged into a sewer tunnel alcove at the curving concrete ceiling with its air inlet hole from which she'd been listening to everything spoken in a California suburban house's living room, this female vampire said to herself in an openly incredulous tone, "Loser Harris had a kid with Maleficent? For real?"

Skeptically shrugging her shoulders, Harmony then went back to her weekly touch-up on those ten little piggies. Today, before coming here, she'd decided to try something different this time. Maybe pretty stars or some nice rainbows. Anything to kill the boredom if as expected nobody there was around to give Harmony the opportunity to eavesdrop on anything mentioned at the Slayer's home.

It'd been a rare moment of civility shown back then by Spike when Harmony had been tagging along with him a few weeks after being turned at the SHS graduation. Going through this portion of the sewer system, the older vampire had pointed out to the fledgling that chair currently empty, how normally one of the Mayor's minions was in there full-time to take notes about anything of importance overheard being discussed by the Slayer and her bleedin' friends.

Spike didn't care or ever bothered to ask exactly how a now-deceased Mayor Wilkins arranged such a fortunate turn of events in the first place for this long-lived politician, the perfect chance to spy on one of his enemies. Once that same Sunnydale official got blown up with the high school after changing into a huge snake demon, naturally the snooping had also ended when all of Wilkins' surviving flunkies hastily decamped to greener pastures as far away from the Hellmouth and Buffy Summers as possible.

Spike himself never took the trouble to listen in onto that superhuman gel any time afterwards as long as Harmony had been relentlessly annoying this blond faux-Cockney. What was the whole bloody point he would've said, if anyone asked. It wasn't like the Scoobies regularly discussed their plans like clockwork in Buffy's living room every ten pip emma, so it'd be absolutely pure luck for any listener to sit in the alcove and learn something important.

Of course, Harmony took it for granted that today she'd have a front-row seat at the big discussion still going on there. When the conversation started again from the Slayer's house, this demoness also resumed applying with a steady hand the merest touch of Passion Red to outline the golden star on her smallest left toenail, the pink tip of a tongue peeping out from between the corner of her mouth indicating all the concentration this task required.

* * *

"Amy," Willow began, only to abruptly stop at how fast the room's cheerful atmosphere plunged into utter iciness, accompanied by that other witch's truly poisonous expression sent the redhead's way. Gulping, Willow handed over the slip of paper she'd just removed from a skirt pocket to Tara in a silent plea.

Thankfully, Tara got up from the couch and walked towards Amy warily eyeing someone she'd only had a limited acquaintance with so far as a human. Extending her hand, Tara then said in her soft voice, "Amy, we've learned your f-father and stepmother left Sunnydale soon after your d-disappearance, moving all the way across the c-country to South Carolina. Here's their address and phone number, in c-case you want to call them now. You c-can use the upstairs phone."

Arising from her armchair despite Carlos' complaining rumble, Amy eagerly accepted the slip of paper from Tara with a quick smile of gratitude bestowed to the other young woman. Heading off towards the house stairs with an impatient stride, Amy totally ignored Willow along the way.

After Amy disappeared up the stairs, Evie turned to Willow. "Why's she got such a mad against you in particular, Willow? I thought Amy turned into a rat and got stuck as one all by herself."

Xander, along with Buffy and Giles, regarded Evie with some surprise at how that Descendant knew the specific story about the long-ago MOO incident in Sunnydale. This minor mystery was swiftly cleared up by Dawn sitting by Evie jerking a thumb at her chest, indicating she'd been the one to tell all.

Turning their attention back to Willow, the room heard from this shamefaced witch, "She's got good reason, actually. I honestly thought back then I could fix things right away, but no matter what I tried, nothing worked. When I did some more magical research about that, it took up a lot of my time, and in between there was all the stuff we got involved in meanwhile: graduation, the Initiative, college, Glory, and so on. Sometimes whole weeks and even months would go by before I went back to Amy's problem, and it eventually turned into well over a year! It's no wonder she's still furious, seeing how the only thing that probably kept Amy from going crazy then was her own rat nature that didn't think about anything but food, water, and a secure habitat. A human would've gone nuts from sheer boredom alone."

Having rejoined the others on their couch, Tara comfortingly patted Willow's shoulder. Even though Tara felt her lover could've really done a much better job concerning Amy, Willow didn't deserve all the blame she was currently getting from Miss Madison. Hopefully, Amy's phone call to her father would help in patching up things around here.

During the ensuing period of when that same mentioned witch was upstairs talking with her family, the Scoobies passed the time telling the Descendants various stories having to do when Amy Madison got involved in their affairs. Even Xander reluctantly narrated to the fascinated younger generation the very embarrassing occasion when he'd teamed up with Amy to cast a miscalculated love spell which resulted in the entire female population of Sunnydale soon chasing him with out-and-out lust shining from their faces.

The relentless sniggering from the peanut gallery due to what they'd just heard ceased when Amy at last came back downstairs. Marching over to Giles, this puffy-eyed witch asked something of him which astonished both this Englishman and the other people in the room:

"Can I work for you at the Magic Box?"

* * *

Harmony flexed her toes, admiring the workmanship displayed there on the newly-finished nails. She next put back on her sandals to then settle down in the sewer alcove's beach chair while thinking over everything Harmony had overheard lately from that little bitch Buffy and her friends.

It'd been kinda interesting, particularly the whole deal with Jay being the son of Jafar, the sinister vizier of the Disney animated film _Aladdin._ Of course, Jay's dad was now reduced to running a pawnshop at the Isle of the Lost, a big comedown from someone who'd nearly managed to marry Princess Jasmine and rule Agrabah.

Oh, well, it wasn't likely she'd ever meet the father of someone she was planning to tear their shirt off the next time they met and start nibbling on those toned abs Harmony was absolutely sure Jay had going on there— Ahem. Get back to the important stuff. You know, slaughtering her enemies, holding sway over the entire world as Harmony the Vampire Queen, and completing her unicorn toy collection.

Harmony scratched her head. This was really hard. She could easily visualize a glorious future for herself, but just how was it supposed to happen? Maybe take a leaf from Spike's fanatically-watched soap opera _Passions_ and do something senselessly dramatic to move things along? Too bad the Scoobies knew quite well Harmony didn't have an identical twin sister—

Abruptly straightening up in the beach chair, Harmony stared in awe at the opposite side of the sewer line concerning the sudden inspiration which had just displayed itself inside her mind. Did _Amy_ know Harmony was a vampire now?

Frowning, Harmony thought back. Let's see, Amy vanished sometime around the start of 1999. That was obviously when she'd become a rat and lost her human marbles. And…about six months later, Harmony had been turned during the Graduation battle. It'd taken another year for Amy to return to being human once more during which Harmony had unsuccessfully gone up against the Scooby Gang several times. There was no possible way Amy-the-rat would've cared at all should these encounters had ever been mentioned by Buffy or the others within earshot of that rodent.

Best of all, none of those meddling kids were now aware of the fact Harmony had lately returned to Sunnydale. Jay definitely hadn't mentioned his recent nighttime meetings with a blonde girl having this same name, bless his dear little heart (which if he dared to leave her feeling anything less than smugly satiated in bed afterwards, Harmony was going to rip that out of his chest and snack upon it with maximum gusto).

After all, if he'd blabbed, Buffy would've surely hunted down Harmony throughout every demonic lair on the Hellmouth.

The same thing applied for Amy being unsuspecting about a former schoolmate presently possessing a distinct lack of a pulse. Though, that might change any moment if it ever occurred to the Scoobies to warn Amy about Harmony. Meaning she'd better get a move on and set up everything before sunset this evening.

Making it even more delicious, Harmony wickedly smiled, she knew exactly where Amy Madison was going to be tonight.

At the Magic Box.

Alone.

A very familiar place where Harmony had already killed one of this shop's proprietors…


	2. Chapter 2

Amy finished her descent from the stepladder leading up to the second-story portion of the Magic Box where the authentically supernatural items were stored. The really dangerous stuff was kept in the building's basement, which Amy had already inventoried tonight after closing time when Mr. Giles had left her to settle in. What she'd just checked out on the upper level shelves was still pretty impressive, though. There'd clearly been a lot of work put in this place since the last time Amy had been here, apparently by that Anya woman Xander had been living with until recently.

Standing in the middle of the shop, Amy winced in remembrance. It'd been an uncomfortable couple of hours last night when she and Xander had gone to his apartment for her to stay there. In between the total exhaustion Amy had been feeling after returning to humanity again, wearing only Tara's offered bathrobe (nothing else of that more generously proportioned witch fitted and Amy sure as hell wouldn't accept anything of Willow's), and her own mortified recollections of being affected by that stupid love spell, Amy and Xander nervously searched for some safe topic of conversation between themselves.

Amy thought she'd found one when Xander came out from his apartment bedroom with an armload of women's apparel including some sweatpants and a large t-shirt she could use for pajamas. Taking these clothes with a tired smile of gratitude, Amy ventured, "Uh, are you with somebody now?"

From the extremely morose expression which then flashed over Xander's face, Amy feared she'd said something wrong. Her chagrin only increased at his glum answer, "Not right this minute. Anya took off a couple days ago without learning I'm back, and I don't know how to get in touch with her. She left behind some of her stuff, which you can wear until you get new clothes, if that's okay."

"Sure," Amy hastily agreed. She still couldn't help asking, "Anya? I don't know anyone—"

Xander interrupted Amy, "Anya Jenkins. She, um, showed up at school after you did the rat thing. We dated a few times and then it got serious. Anya owns the Magic Box with Giles—"

This time, it was Amy's turn to break into the conversation, "Hey, I know that place! I've bought a couple things there to help me learn more magic."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how Giles is going to handle it alone now," Xander frowned. He paused at Amy's abrupt, jaw-cracking yawn.

"Look, just go to bed, all right? I'll take the sofa. Tomorrow morning, we'll have a full Scooby Gang meeting at Buffy's house to catch you up on things."

Drooping with weariness, Amy just nodded and went off to sleep as a human for the first time in eighteen months.

Back in the Magic Box the next evening, Amy aimlessly strolled around the main floor with its assorted tables, shelves, and other furniture bearing various gimcrackery purporting to be of a magical nature. In reality, most of these had as much enchantment within them as a mundane fire hydrant, but some items there were legitimately useful to those in the know of what Sunnydale had lurking in the dark. Even if the mystic runes engraved along the sides of the small collection of hand mirrors propped up on a table in front of the store counter were completely meaningless, the small crucifixes inlaid at every corner of the mirrors would work quite well against vampires unable to cast any reflection.

Stopping alongside the table to straighten out a crooked hand mirror, Amy stood there trying to decide if her decision to remain at the Hellmouth had really been such a good idea. It'd been made on the spur of the moment during Amy's phone call to her father in South Carolina earlier today. Naturally, he'd been overjoyed at her sudden reappearance into his life, seeing how Willow Rosenberg's last message about his daughter had been several months ago and was as discouraging as ever about Amy's chances of soon becoming human again.

Amy had nearly lost it right then and there, her hand angrily squeezing the phone receiver nearly hard enough to crack the plastic. She'd stood there seething while Dad had filled her in on his and Susan's lives now in Columbia, the state capitol. Apparently they'd made a good home there together, and Amy was more than welcome to come stay with them and start a new life far from California.

It'd been truly tempting, but Amy's main focus at the time had been the wave of sudden fury overcoming herself all due to things finally coming to a head. She was _never_ going to allow it to happen again, being magically vulnerable and in someone's power! Much less that bitch Rosenberg who couldn't even be bothered to help out another witch who needed it!

Bought up short by one specific word she'd just thought, Amy further contemplated this while barely paying attention to Dad's conversation. Witch. Yes, that's exactly what Amy Madison was, and she was damned well learning everything mystically possible to make sure nobody ever again put or left her in that same helpless situation. And that definitely included a certain Jewish redhead in particular!

However…there was absolutely no way that'd work if she left Sunnydale. Going to live with Dad and her stepmother sounded great, but after being married since high school to a viciously manipulative woman more than willing to use her magical powers to curse people, her father was naturally apprehensive about the whole witch thing carrying over onto his daughter. He wouldn't be happy at all about Amy trying to restart her supernatural studies at this Columbia city. Besides, Amy wasn't even certain there were any other witches or an actual coven either in Columbia for their potential support, much less some magic shops around to buy the necessary spell ingredients, grimoires, and the like. Why, the Magic Box alone in Sunnydale had been perfect for Amy's needs—

Amy's deliberations abruptly stopped while the brilliant inspiration blossomed inside her mind in all its glory. Now, all it needed was for her to talk Dad into agreeing…

Sending a faint smile around the magical emporium where she'd wound up at last, Amy mentally reassured herself she'd done the right thing. Dad hadn't been thrilled the slightest, but he'd finally accepted his daughter's convincing arguments that she needed to stay a little while longer at Sunnydale if only to straighten out her chaotic ID documents and other proofs of identity after turning back into a human. Just getting her California high school transcripts to potentially start college was going to be challenging enough, what with Sunnydale High still mostly a heap of uncollected rubble after its mysterious gas explosion last year which had killed the town's mayor and several more victims.

Maybe this time Sunnydale Syndrome would work in her favor. For once, people at City Hall wouldn't bat an eye over somebody missing for months showing up again without any decent explanation and asking for copies of assorted paperwork to prove she was still alive (and able to step outside in the daylight without any trouble such as turning into ashes, though this might go without actually saying).

So, after a long discussion, Dad had grudgingly given in. He'd wire her some money to live on, and if her next goal didn't work out, she could use this for a plane ticket to South Carolina and their home there. He'd repeated over and over how he still loved and missed his little girl so much, and Amy had nearly weakened, sniffling all the while. Nevertheless, she was still determined to stay the course and ask Rupert Giles for a job as this Watcher's shop assistant at the Magic Box.

Looking proudly upon her new kingdom, Amy congratulated herself. Mr. Giles had been a little startled, just as had the rest of the Scooby Gang, over her unexpected announcement to both remain and seek employment at his place of business. It'd pretty much worked out well, though. The former school librarian was quite glad enough to take her on. In fact, she could start right away, with a trip downtown to tour the Magic Box and arrange for her staying as an after-hours resident in this shop.

Amy glanced at the shop counter with the doorway in the wall behind. It was definitely a bit cramped back there, but a tiny bedroom with an attached bathroom had been squeezed inside the rear area of the building so she could live here full time.

The witch smirked. All part of her clever master plan, of course. She'd handle the daytime customers while consulting with Mr. Giles over any problems or the really peculiar magical requests, and after closing time, she'd have a whole shop stuffed full of mystical books and materials to help her thoroughly study magic. All it'd take was a couple of months' hard work and her witch powers would be vastly enhanced than ever before. At the very least, nobody'd ever bring up the whole awkward rat event if they knew what was good for them unless they particularly wanted whiskers and a long, skinny, hairless tail.

*Let's see how Willow deals with _that_ —* Amy was spitefully thinking at the exact point when she was interrupted by the sudden tapping sound coming from the Magic Box's front window.

Whirling around in genuine surprise, Amy stopped short to gape at exactly whom she was seeing outside there in the evening's dark, barely distinct in the light of the city streetlamp down the block.

Why in the world tonight was Harmony Kendall, Sunnydale High's most brainless cheerleader, enthusiastically waving at her?


	3. Chapter 3

Amy walked over to the front door where a speaker intercom was installed besides this shut and locked portal. She couldn't remember if it'd always been there on her previous visits or if some prior owner of the Magic Box had added this during her year-plus of rathood. The topic hadn't come up during her short tour earlier today with Mr. Giles, either. In any case, it wasn't that hard to use.

Pressing the proper button, Amy cautiously asked, "Harmony, is that you?"

"Yeah!" the blonde beamed at Amy from outside on the sidewalk. "Glad to hear you're back from being a rat! Bet that wasn't a lot of fun, huh?"

Amy just gawked at Harmony instead of answering right away. How could she possibly know—

Clearly not expecting a response, Harmony kept on chattering, holding up for display the small suitcase gripped in her right hand, "Here's some more magic stuff Giles gave me to bring that'll make the wards better. Did he already do the first round of this, like he said on the phone?"

Her head whirling from all the shocks she was getting, Amy speechlessly nodded. Indeed, the former high school librarian had first proposed back at Buffy's house this morning that after hiring Amy to work and live at the Magic Box, that establishment's protective wards would obviously need to be strengthened against Sunnydale's hostile inhabitants of the demonic persuasion.

Amy had watched in fascination while Mr. Giles cast the spell in the Magic Box. Her own magical core thrummed in reaction to sensing these new wards' creation, although after so long as a rodent she could barely manifest any actual power right now.

Mentioning this then and there to Mr. Giles had him reassuring Amy that she'd rapidly gain these energies back now that she was once a human again. However, during all this and even before, he'd also never mentioned that _Harmony Kendall_ was presently part of the Scooby Gang!

Now agog with intense curiosity, Amy probed, "How'd you get involved in all this stuff? I mean, from what I remember about high school, you never showed any signs of knowing about magic and demons."

To herself, Amy did a malicious quick mental aside, *Or even anything but your hair, makeup, which seniors had the best car, or the nastiest putdowns you could think up against everyone who you considered a rival for Cordelia Chase's approval.*

"Yeah, well, having Mayor Wilkins turn into one huge snake monster at graduation was kinda convincing," Harmony told the young woman inside the Magic Box. "You know about that, right?"

Amy nodded with a growing frown on her face. "Buffy and the gang mentioned it, but they really didn't go into much detail. Is that when you joined up with them in fighting the Hellmouth's other monsters?"

"Oh, not full time, or you know, real _fighting,_ " Harmony corrected. "I hung around, helped out, that sort of thing in between cosmetology classes at UCS."

In a swift change of mood, she happily informed Amy, "They think I'm really good! I'm already doing other girls' hairstyles in private for spending money!"

Doing an equally rapid shift into genuine ruefulness, Harmon then informed an open-mouthed Amy, "But then, honestly, Xander's kid came along and put me totally in the shade! I mean, it's just not fair that Mal can whip out her spellbook and do a complete makeover for somebody inside ten seconds that'd take me a whole half-hour of hard work in a beauty saloon!"

Pausing to clearly nurse a grudge, Harmony abruptly came to her senses, as indicated by sending a nervous glance around at her surroundings.

She appealed to Amy, "Listen, let me in, okay? I don't want to be out in the open on the street any more than necessary!"

"Right," Amy assented, recognizing full well how dangerous Sunnydale got after sunset and glad that Harmony knew this too. She reached for the doorknob to unlock it, only to pause. There was something…

Shooting Harmony a very wary expression through the front door window where the blonde girl had stepped closer in preparation for entering the Magic Box, Amy then inquired, "Uh, just asking here, but…Cordelia isn't also part of the Scoobies now? At least, they didn't mention that either—"

Harmony snorted in her severest disparagement, "Queen C? Not a chance! Oh, sure, she had that weird fling with Xander, but a few months before graduation, Cordy found out her mom and dad were in big trouble with the tax people. I mean, they didn't pay anything, like, _ever._ So they skipped town in one real hurry and left Cordy dead broke. Me and the rest of the squad, we didn't have anything to do with her after that. The last I heard, she's in LA trying to make it in the movie biz but I figure the only jobs she's actually qualified for is to be some guy's second trophy wife, a paid escort, or a late-night diner waitress."

Strangely reassured that Harmony was still mostly the mean little idiot she remembered from high school, Amy clicked off the speaker intercom and opened the front door. Harmony promptly bustled inside, stopping a few steps past Amy to watch the other girl shut and carefully lock the front door again.

As for Amy who then noticed Harmony put down the suitcase she'd been carrying on the Magic Box's floor, this former rat turned to walk towards the shop counter, advising Harmony, "No, don't leave it there. Bring it to the counter."

Those last words were accompanied by Amy waving a hand towards that rear portion of the building while she went by Harmony and also the small table in the middle of the main room with its contents of supposedly mystical hand mirrors.

Just as Amy strode past that table now on her left, she mentally mustered every single scrap of miniscule magical energy she currently possessed, calling up an enchanted fireball floating inside her cupped left palm which was hopefully hidden by the table that a mere moment ago had shown only her moving reflection in these assortment of hand mirrors. Unlike Harmony Kendall, who should've also been easily replicated there, judging from the sound of the soft footsteps which now placed the other girl within arm's-reach behind Amy…

In a burst of panicky speed, Amy brought up her left arm to flip over her shoulder the magic fireball she'd just hurled backwards without looking. Instead, Amy dodged to the right with equal alacrity, only to be knocked off her feet by a screaming figure rushing past Amy falling onto the Magic Box's floor.

Also sideswiping the table which tipped it over and made every mirror there plunge and shatter onto the floor, Harmony now with her eyebrows merrily blazing from being hit right in the face by that unexpected attack raced towards her goal, the nearest shelf loaded with glass bottles filled to their brims by a greenish liquid with specks of gold drifting throughout those contents.

Reaching the shelf, Harmony hastily grabbed the two nearest bottles at hand and without further ado, she smashed them both against her forehead. Yeah, it hurt, but so what? It was the fastest way to put out the fire consuming her eyebrows out by drowning these in water!

Unfortunately, Anya Jenkins was an absolute genius in fleecing the suckers looking for something truly magical at her business. All it'd taken was to remove the previous labels on those beer bottles collected from the bar's garbage bin next door and replace them with a new label claiming that the "Enchanted Lotions of Huy-Brasil" were just the thing for sky-clad ceremonies.

A slosh of green shampoo, half a teaspoon of the cheapest perfume Anya could find, and some scrapings of iron pyrite produced a perfectly reasonable liniment for any aspiring witch especially with the main ingredient consisting of 90% of the container's substance.

If those idiots in pointy hats still insisted on going anywhere near an open flame while soaked from a whole bottle of ordinary rubbing alcohol poured over themselves, it was _their_ problem.

FWOOOMP!

Now with her entire head combusting down to the last strand of hair in addition to most of her dress resembling a bonfire, a shrieking Harmony running at her top speed pinballed throughout the Magic Box while vainly attempting to extinguish those conflagrations with futile slaps of her hands all over her body. In the meantime, Harmony never slowing down smashed into and through the Magic Box's brick walls, the more fragile shelves, and equally flimsy other tables, trailing a path of utter destruction after herself.

Amy watched all this with wide eyes, but she soon realized this was her chance to escape! Only, given the random back-and-forth dashes by Harmony, this risked Amy being trampled by that frantic girl if she headed towards either the front or rear doors. That was also likely to happen if Amy stayed where she was, however. Wildly glancing around to an answer to this problem, Amy's gaze fell upon the ladder leading up to the second floor area. It wasn't exactly the best solution, but it'd have to do for now…

Judging the safest moment from where she was still stomach-down on the floor, Amy waited until Harmony did her next sprint past Catherine Madison's daughter. Surging onto her feet while ignoring the latest _THUD!_ of a burning Harmony colliding again with the Magic Box's far wall, Amy leapt towards the ladder and then scrambled up it as fast as she could.

Coming out onto the second level with its rows of shelves holding genuine magical items, Amy stood panting there for a moment. She then stared down at the lower floor at the noise of a loud thump from there, only to see things probably soon about to turn out for the worse for herself.

Harmony had just blindly shoved over one of the Magic Box main shelves, causing by sheer accident to snatch up from there one of the discounted Army-surplus blankets Anya had been marketing as "Give Your Lover A Real Magic Carpet Ride!"

For once remembering something useful in her life, Harmony next threw the blanket over her fiery head, dropped to the floor, and then began rolling around there. This seemed to be extinguishing the fire pretty well, not that Amy particularly appreciated this or even the fact that Harmony was getting nearer the second floor ladder at every rotation…

Desperately eyeing the shelves surrounding herself and lined up in tidily consecutive rows, Amy couldn't help remembering what Harmony had just done down there with the other shelf. Now, if only like that one, these others up here weren't also attached to the floor by anything other than their weight—

Staggering up onto her shoes which felt like the only part of herself which wasn't melted, Harmony peeled off the remains of the scorched blanket from her head and blearily stared ahead at a corner of the Magic Box. From above came a sudden tumult of bangs and creaks, which Harmony was just too miserable to care about, until it occurred that maybe this had something to do with the whole stinking part of her getting set on fire by that little Madison bitch!

Glancing up, Harmony glared directly into the plunging topmost plank of the descending shelf coming down in one solid piece along with its entire magical contents, plus other supernatural items carried along when they'd slid off the other shelves collapsing headlong like a row of oversized dominoes. Too amazed to even duck, Harmony was driven flat into the floor by the shelf striking her with all the force of the Hammer of God.

At the other end of the second floor area, Amy held her breath at the sound of the tremendous crash coming from downstairs. What with all the other shelves now lying flat from where she'd shoved the nearest one with all her strength, it was obvious the very last shelf had been knocked entirely off its former position. Hopefully onto Harmony, who could just deal with it while Amy got out of here!

Heading towards the stepladder, Amy abruptly flinched in astonished surprise at the unanticipated flares of illumination in various colors coming from below. Next appeared streaks of lights shooting like skyrockets around the lower room, glowing bubbles which then popped out of existence, ear-piercing chimes, and the sudden taste of persimmons in Amy's mouth. Not to mention how a certain witch's magical core just twanged like an untuned piano being pummeled by a drunken chimpanzee.

In the next second, all of it stopped. Waiting suspiciously for anything else odd to occur, Amy eventually poked her head over the ladder to check out things below herself. A quick ogle by this gaping witch had her witness a last few flickers of numinous radiance shining from the splintered heap of wood and ruined items laying in a pile at the exact point where the second floor shelf had gone on its one-way voyage.

Hurriedly using the stepladder, Amy decided on her gallop towards the front door to wonder about this later—

Erupting from underneath the wrecked shelf and sending wooden fragments flying far and wide throughout the Magic Box, Harmony Kendall stood there, clutching at her singed-bald head. She screamed to nobody in particular, "WHAT'D YOU JUST DO TO ME?!"

Amy picked up the pace without even looking back. The door was only a few steps away now…

A steel-hard hand grabbed Amy by her right shoulder, easily lifting the girl off her feet and tossing Amy through the air into the middle of the Magic Box. Landing with a very painful slam onto her butt and then sliding along the floor, Amy then hit an overturned table which stopped her cold. Hopelessly searching for anything at all to allow herself to survive, Amy's gaze fell onto something else lying on the floor by the table.

This time, it was two hands which went under Amy's armpits to yank her upright without any trouble at all. Holding the witch nearly nose-to-nose with Harmony in full game face, the vampire snarled right into Amy's terrified expression, "You better tell me what's going on, you little shit, or I'll—"

Bringing up her right hand containing what she'd snatched an instant ago from the Magic Box's floor, Amy slapped the remaining topmost portion of the shattered hand mirror against Harmony's face. To be precise, the bit of the metal frame with its intact crucifix was pressed deep into the lips of this vampire.

Going cross-eyed to see what'd just been shoved at her mouth, Harmony instantly recognized the holy object which should now be giving her undead body the maximum damage of sixth-degree burns where the entire flesh and bone turned into charred ashes.

Except…nothing was happening.

Harmony's bewildered gaze flickered to meet Amy's correspondingly baffled face, followed by Miss Kendall attempting to finish her previous statement with, "…murfle?"


	4. Chapter 4

Dropping his hands from running through several scanning gestures of enchantment, Rupert Giles appeared distinctly flummoxed while standing in the middle of the wrecked Magic Box. He regarded with growing bafflement the quite sullen vampire surrounded by himself, Willow, Tara, and Buffy holding her stake ready for instant use if necessary upon someone who now resembled nothing other than one of those American dolls – Barbie, that was the name – which had been thoroughly scorched by a sadistic older brother's blowtorch.

Clearing his throat, Giles next uttered something he'd never thought possible: "Miss Kendall not only has her soul back, but she's also now immune to any direct contact with blessed objects, just as any ordinary human would be."

"I already _told_ you that over and over!" Harmony snarled to them all in her raspy voice not yet fully healed from her recent bout of being on fire.

Buffy retorted equally crankily, "Right, like we were gonna take your word for it!"

She shot Harmony a cold, calculating gaze and then took a plain plastic water bottle from her back pants pocket with the other hand not holding the Slayer's stake.

Offering this to Harmony had Buffy receive from the other girl a haughty, "Are you kidding? The generic stuff instead of something a lot more fashionable? Cordy had Perrier mineral water all the time in her purse—"

"Just drink it!" Buffy growled in her most dangerous tone, the pointed tip of her stake jabbing into Harmony's direction as if any second now there were going to be only ten people, a dog, and one collapsing dust cloud crammed inside the Magic Box late tonight.

For once knowing when to shut up and do what she'd been told, Harmony snatched the water bottle from Buffy, twisted off the bottle cap, and drained half the contents in one gulp. Looking a bit more relieved at how this made her throat feel way better, Harmony took her next few swallows much more slowly.

"Yeah, Giles, you're right," Buffy casually declared. "That holy water isn't doing a thing."

The resulting spit-take from Harmony was impressive, causing all four nearest Scoobies to lean away from the spluttering vampire. Harmony, quite unharmed by consuming that consecrated liquid which normally should've melted her entire insides, glared at Buffy who just sneered back towards this female monster.

Buffy had excellent reasons for her uncharitable mood. In all the excitement starting from Amy's frantic phone call to the Revello house about the latest bizarre events at the Magic Box, the complete Scooby Gang plus their visitors from the Disney Dimension had basically invited themselves along to see for themselves. That naturally included Dawn, which didn't make Buffy happy at all, her sister being out on Sunnydale after dark again. Even with the whole Glory thing over and done now, Buffy wasn't thrilled the slightest at the idea of another dimwitted demoness bringing more idiotic mayhem to town and potentially putting them all in danger once more.

Turning to glower at where that same little brat was standing with her new friends, Buffy observed with sudden suspicion how Dawn finished whispering into Mal's ear. In response, Mal nodded and reached behind into her backpack she'd brought along from Buffy's home, producing from out of there a Watcher-type book, all thick and old-looking.

Approaching Buffy now sending her a really forbidding expression, Mal mentally scored that one as a respectable *Five, maybe five point three.*

It still didn't come anywhere close to Mom's truly cantankerous mien lately whenever the prospect came up of her daughter further dating that pathetic Prince Ben who hadn't even razed _one_ single city to the ground and piled high in a neat pyramid the severed heads of its deceased inhabitants.

Rather, Mal announced to the Slayer, "Can I try something?" while lifting up the book she was now holding in both hands.

"What?"

Unruffled by Buffy's curt tone, Mal replied, "Just a little spell to fix her up a bit," tilting her head into a startled Harmony's direction. "You can't say she doesn't need that."

Buffy's glance flickered towards where the vampire in all her blackened baldness and trashed clothes was starting to swell up with righteous indignation. A thin smile played over the Slayer's lips.

"Hey, feel free. It's not like you'll make matters any worse, right?"

Harmony silently swore to herself that someday Buffy Anne Summers would eat those very words. Ooooo, would she ever!

Sourly eyeing the girl with the purple coiffure riffling through the pages of her book of magical spells, Harmony braced herself. Sure enough, just as she'd eavesdropped earlier today from the Summers living room, the younger enchantress chanted, "Beware, forswear, replace the old with new hair! Supplace, displace, remove the grime for a fresh face! Finesse, impress, mend the hurts to my lady's dress!"

Under everyone's fascinated gaze, Harmony shuddered once…and all of a sudden, she grew to her shoulders and past long, golden hair curled and permed to perfection. At the same time, the vampire's smudged face turned sparkling clear plus Harmony's spoilt clothing was restored to its former pristine state. Looking down at herself, all nice and clean now, Harmony squealed loudly in utter delight. However, somebody else there had an entirely different reaction.

From the back of the crowd in the magical emporium, an incredulous voice asked, " _Harmony?!_ "

The heads of almost all there promptly turned to observe how Jay was now gaping at the girl he'd met a few nights ago and several times afterwards, all without ever knowing that young woman was in fact a blood-sucking fiend. A description which did not bide well for Jay, either then or now.

Carefully closing her book, Mal calmly declared to no one in particular, "Excuse me."

She next spun around on one heel to walk towards and then past Jay, only to have one hand dart out and grip between painfully pinching fingers Jay's right earlobe. Towing along without any trouble that much larger boy yelping in agony, Mal headed towards the nearest empty corner of the Magic Box, followed by Evie looking thunderous and right at Jay's heels.

The last of the Descendants, Carlos the hellhound, slunk along after his friends. Judging from how low the beast's ears were drooping, Carlos was absolutely sure that very soon now, the words "BAD DOG!" or some other equivalent would be yelled at his master by their pack's bitches.

Dawn was left standing with Xander and Amy, all of them mulling uncertainly over what could possibly happen next. Their attention was drawn back at the middle of the room where Harmony attempting to join the Descendants had just quailed from Buffy's stake being waved threateningly in front of Harmony's face. Running a nervous hand through her newly-repaired hair, Harmony brightened up at how things could be a lot worse.

She happily called at a certain someone's father, "Hey, Xander, your kid's really nice! Thank her for me, will you?"

Xander had an immensely proud grin appear on his face while he responded with a pleased rejoinder, "Oh, you bet."

In the exact same cheerful tone and bearing the identical fixed smile, he continued, "If you even _look_ sideways at her, vampire, I'll chop off your arms and legs and leave you dangling from the top of the Cushinglee Park flagpole, waiting for sunrise. Understand?"

Her eyes wide open with sudden terror, Harmony frantically nodded. Glancing around at the rest of the awed Scoobies, she risked, "Um…would this be a good time for ask for Santa Claus?"

"What?" came in a confused chorus from Buffy, et al.

Harmony frowned, waving one hand in a vague gesture of trying to recall something. "There's a word, sounds like… You know, some place where you can go for safety."

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other hand. "Do you mean sanctuary?"

"Yeah, that's the one!" Harmony beamed.

It was at that point when Amy resentfully joined in on the conversation. She pointed an irate finger at Harmony, "You tried to kill me just a half-hour ago! But now, you expect us to forgive and forget like nothing happened?"

Dawn couldn't help speaking up at that point, "Yeah, there's something else I can't figure out either."

When they all looked at Dawn, she went on, "Ah…it's the whole soul thing. I mean, she's still a vampire, and through all that, Harmony must've done some really bad stuff, killing and hurting people. So why aren't you going to pieces about it now?"

This was a good point, most of the Scoobies considered. What they next heard from Harmony, though, didn't exactly clear up things.

"Oh, it's like credit cards."

Quick glances were traded around the circle of people around a blond vampire, before Giles realized he'd drawn the short straw. Damn being the sole adult in the room! Nonetheless, the Englishman wearily inquired, "Could you please be a little more specific, Miss Kendall?"

"Sure," Harmony said sunnily, "Somebody steals your Visa and charges a whole lot of crappy junk to your account, so you just cancel your card and start over. Poof, problem's gone! Whoever did the crime, they're on the hook for it, not you, so who cares about them?"

There was a short pause in the Magic Box while the Scooby Gang attempted to fit that explanation into their Hellmouth worldview without everyone's brains actually short-circuiting. It got quiet enough for Xander to hear from the room's far corner how Mal was hissing fierce imprecations at a cowering Jay while repeatedly poking him hard in the chest with a fingernail, all while Evie grimly awaited her turn.

Rubbing at his forehead, this Sunnydale native eventually snickered to himself.

This unsurprisingly gained him the curious notice of the others there, by which Xander soon explained to them in his bemused tone, "Sorry, couldn't resist. Deadboy, he spent over a century moping around after those gypsies zapped his soul back, perfecting his 'Woe is me, I'm so awful but at least my hair looks good' schtick, but Harmony Kendall, she gets over it in just thirty seconds flat!"

That earned Xander a supremely dirty look from Buffy. She then demanded from Giles, "Just how did it happen, anyway, the soul fixing? You never got around to telling us. Don't you need that Orb of Thingy—"

Unable to stop themselves, the others simultaneously corrected the malapropism-prone Slayer, "Orb of Thesulah."

"—whatever, which Wils used back then?" Buffy finished.

Giles gave his Slayer an approving nod.

"Quite so. There was indeed an inactive Orb stored on the shelf up there," this older man began, pointing at a currently empty space on the second floor level.

Following his gesture, the gang waited for Giles to continue until they realized he wasn't going to for some reason. Instead, they observed him morosely staring at the heap of wreckage on the Magic Box main floor which had earlier fallen onto Harmony after Amy shoved that exact shelf off the second floor area.

Giles now bestowed his best baleful glare upon a cringing Amy. In a voice of doom from Giles, he gritted, "That Orb – which, by the by, consisted of easily a quarter of the value of the entire Magic Box – must've randomly combined with all the other enchanted items when they were smashed together into flinders to somehow return the soul of the closest vampire at hand. Jolly good show, Miss Madison. It's a great pity that there's absolutely no way for anyone to ever repeat the incredibly rare accident."

"Hey, Mr. Funny Talking Librarian," Harmony huffily interjected. "Stop being so mean to Amy! She was fighting for her life then! Did a real nice job, too, with the fireball trick and all," concluded Harmony in an actual approving tone.

"Yes, I'm sure that if your latest adversary tonight possessed a nuclear bomb, she wouldn't have hesitated at using it, either," Giles grumpily countered.

He threw up his arms in genuine exasperation. "Are you people blind? We're going to have to replace everything here, not to mention basically repairing the whole place! What am I going to put on the insurance claim, a witch and a vampire had the biggest punch-up of their lives at a shop I've sunk a pretty penny into?"

Glancing around, Buffy and the rest admitted Giles had a point. What wasn't scorched was in pieces, and that took up virtually everything now in the Magic Box.

"Relax, G-man, it's covered," Xander jauntily reassured his older friend, who glared at the issuance of this detested nickname.

Just when Giles opened his mouth to pour over that little wanker some prime British scorn, he heard from Mal's father, "Don't forget all those gold ingots her mom gave me before we left there. We'll cash them in, or maybe just one or two to keep anyone from wondering too much about it. Will that be enough?"

Taken rather aback by this financial generosity, Rupert Giles soon agreed, "I imagine so, Xander. Thank you very much."

" _Excuse_ me!" Harmony piped up. "Can we get back to the whole sanctuary thing?"

Willow directed a most unfriendly look towards this vampire, who hadn't exactly endeared herself towards the witch at any time of her undead existence or even before when Harmony had tormented Willow since kindergarten as part of Cordelia Chase's clique. "Precisely why should we care?"

"Because you owe me!" Harmony instantly snapped back, angry eyes sweeping around the entire startled group of humans. "I was there at Graduation, remember? Yeah, okay, so I didn't do all that much…but I still showed up anyway! Then, I got killed. That _hurt._ "

Harmony stared down at the floor, her voice sinking into a whisper. "Now, I'm back and stuck in this nasty body that won't let me see myself in a mirror, or have my once-a-month triple chocolate shake, or ever talk with my mom and dad again because they know I'm dead!"

That last word was screamed at the Scooby Gang, who couldn't meet Harmony's teary gaze. This small group dedicated to the protection of Sunnydale dealt with the never-ending danger and occasional tragedies by firmly keeping their minds in the present. Remembering those innocents who hadn't survived was just too hard, but now one of them was here again and rubbing everyone's nose in their averseness to confronting the past.

In the end, Buffy sighed and regretfully told Harmony, "I'm really sorry we couldn't save you, Harm. We did our best, and so did you, on that day. You and the others who didn't make it, you're heroes, too."

"Can I be one again?" Harmony unexpectedly begged, causing all those listening to have their mouths fall open in shock.

Xander compassionately pointed out, "Harmony, how's that possibly gonna work? D— I mean, Angel," he hastily corrected himself without even checking out Buffy's furious expression, "—spent decades fighting his demon to stay in control and even then it sometimes turned to total crap. The only thing that stopped Spike from murdering us all was the chip in his head, and he still sold us out a couple times. We don't know for sure your soul's permanent, or if something else could happen to bring back your vamp to rip out our throats—"

"N-no."

Heads turned, searching for that hushed interruption. They soon all stared at where Tara standing was by Willow, blushing under all their gazes.

The larger witch even so spoke up again in her soft stutter, "I c-can see Harmony's aura. It's just like all of y-yours, with your souls and it w-won't go away any m-more that they w-will. B-but, there's m-more."

Tara looked at the bewildered vampire. "H-Harmony, go to A-amy, and…uhhh…pluck a s-single hair from her h-head."

"What?" burst from that other witch, taking a nervous step back from Harmony.

That same young woman capable of growing fangs was frowning at Tara who was briskly nodding for her instructions to be carried out. Giving a baffled shrug, Harmony prepared to move forward…only to freeze in her tracks.

"I can't move!"

Before anyone else could break in Harmony's panicked declaration, Tara urgently ordered Amy, "S-say to her, 'An' it h-harm none, d-do as ye w-will!'"

Her thoughts whirling, Amy obediently repeated the Wiccan rede, "An' it harm none, do as ye will."

"Eeep!" Harmony choked out, giving herself a nonplussed shake and seemingly also relieved she could apparently move again.

She squinted at Tara now appearing quite pleased with herself. "What was all that about?"

The others there in the room wanted to know this, too. Included in their company were the Descendants who'd settled their business of giving Jay his customary tongue-lashing for doing something even more stupid than usual and came over to stand with Xander, Dawn, and Amy waiting for Tara to answer.

As indeed she did, pointing at Amy. "Y-your aura is l-linked now with H-harmony."

Tara held up her hand to avert anyone's questions for the moment. "I d-don't know h-how or w-why. T-two m-more things, though. B-before, Harmony c-couldn't hurt Amy a-and Amy c-could order H-harmony to d-do _anything,_ up t-to hurting us."

With the light of realization appearing on her face, Willow excitedly came out with, "But you just fixed that with your order which covers pretty much it all! Harmony's trustworthy now?"

Tara nodded firmly, though she yet cautioned, "S-she can freely d-decide whether or n-not to fight or even k-kill, like us."

"Hey, I'll be like, you know, that Xena lady on tv!" Harmony enthusiastically informed them all. "Somebody with a really cool origin story but she can still kick all the bad guys' asses!"

The vampiress frowned in a quick change of her mood. "No leather costumes, though. They all look like they chafe too much unless you shake a whole bottle of talcum powder into them before."

Harmony looked over at where Buffy was presently regarding her in somewhat of a daze. An uneasy expression then flashed over Harmony's face as she then made an anxious request of the Slayer.

"Could you, uh, please come along with me tomorrow night when I'm collecting my stuff from Spike's crypt? I'd kinda like to ease into this whole superheroine thing. If there's any big meanies around, I can watch you take care of them first, and then practice on my own. Is that okay?"

Buffy tried to think of just when her life had turned completely gonzo. She mentioned the first thing which came to mind, "Uh, where are you going to stay afterwards?"

Right after that, Buffy inwardly prayed that Harmony wouldn't suggest settling in at her house's basement—

Harmony pointed at the entranceway behind the battered shop counter. "There's an underground vault there, right? Give me a little time and I'll fix it up all nice and cozy! My unicorn dolls will love it!"

"Actually," Giles mused out loud, "That could work quite well."

He bared his teeth in a mirthless smile towards where Amy was desperately hunting for an effective objection about being forced to share her living quarters with a vampire. "After all, _someone_ needs to clean up this place, and who else better than those responsible for it being reduced to far beyond economical repair?"

"That's not fair!" Amy half-yelled, pointing at a petulant Harmony. "I got tricked by her!"

There was a moment of silence while all there ran that protest through their heads and its sheer ridiculousness. Amy finally slumped her shoulders in resentful surrender.

Someone cleared their throat in a bid for attention. Everyone now eyed how Jay who'd just sidled around Xander to put him between Mal and Evie then addressed the young undead woman giving him a shamed expression, "Harmony, uh…would you like to go on a date with me? Maybe see a movie?"

" _What?!_ " shrieked the two female Descendants while at the same time Harmony's abashed face blossomed into a stunning smile. This also resulted in Carlos dropping to lie flat on his massive torso and putting both front paws over his eyes.

Jay peered around Xander staring up at the Magic Box's ceiling in a determined this-has-nothing-to-do-with-me posture to smirk at his friends. "You really thought I was gonna listen to a single word you said? It's not like back home at the Isle of the Lost I never dated the more—"

The son of Jafar the former vizier remembered just in time that virtually all of the ladies there in the Sunnydale shop could do very painful physical or magical things to him and finished his sentence with, "—quirky girls! They didn't complain either, so just butt out."

"Yeah, what he said," Harmony sniffed at those killjoys.

Ooops. From the sudden glare she got from the one with purple hair, that might've been a teensy-weensy mistake.

Indeed, Mal stalked ahead with an ominous attitude foreshadowing this girl at every step, directly at Harmony. Stopping in front of that vampire, Mal leaned forward and kindled in her eyes the green energy of enchantment which could lay waste to all that existed.

With a voice of ultimate menace, Mal informed Harmony, "Jay's one of us, in spite of being the biggest moron around. You give him a single scratch, and I'll—"

Harmony intently asked those glowing eyes, "You're really Maleficent's daughter? The one from that cartoon who turned into a dragon?"

" _Yes._ And I learned from the best how to wreak vengeance—"

"Can I have her autograph?"

Mal's energies abruptly vanished in a confused eyeblink. "What?"

Eagerly nodding, Harmony said in an admiring voice, "I really enjoyed her in it. That hat was awesome!"

In her own flabbergasted monotone, Mal repeated, "You…like…Mom's…hat."

"Uh-huh. About that autograph, it doesn't have to be right this minute—"

Ignoring Harmony, Mal had just turned around and walked back to rejoin Evie looking equally discombobulated. Along the way, Mal informed Jay, "She's all yours."

Ten minutes later, Amy and Harmony stood in the Magic Box now deserted save for themselves. All of the Scooby Gang and the Descendants had gone off to their various Sunnydale homes, albeit with Dawn protesting that surely tonight's excitement wasn't over!

Amy glowered at Harmony, who in turn was intently studying this witch.

"What?" eventually snapped Amy, not at all thrilled about, oh, everything.

Harmony didn't seem to be annoyed at Amy's grouchy mood. She just kept on eyeing Amy for a few more moments before inquiring, "When's the last time you had your hair done?'

That resulting in an incredulous glance from Amy, before she snarled, "Eighteen months ago! Right before I turned into a rat, if that's any of your business! Why the hell do you want to know?"

Still in her satisfied mood, Harmony just grinned. "Just checking. I can give you a makeover, if you want."

Taking a deep breath among the wistful thoughts that minutes earlier she could've simply ordered Harmony to shut up and it would've worked, Amy huffed, "What's the whole point? I don't know anyone here who'd care, so just drop it, all right?"

Harmony shook her head. She suggested, "Me and Jay could double date at the movies with you and Xander. I think he'd like that."

Amy froze in her sudden shock, and then an immense blush swept over her entire body. The same body which that genuinely nice guy had gotten an eyeful when he'd found her stark naked in Mal's arms—

"No, no, no, and absolutely no! I'm done talking about this! Are you listening? I'm going to bed, and you can bunk down _quietly_ in the vault!"

A secret smile playing on Harmony's lips, this vampire followed Amy scuttling towards the entranceway to the bedroom and basement beyond. Along the way, Harmony had a worrisome thought which needed to be shared.

"Uh, Amy…you don't poop those little pellets everywhere any more, do you?"

"AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

* * *

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter about the Descendants in Sunnydale! Perhaps there'll be more when a plot bunny comes sniffling along with his twinkling nose and has a box propped up with a stick attached with a tied string capture this little literary lepus.


End file.
